When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions.

Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without a cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything.

The basic idea of Zen is to come in touch with the inner workings of our being, and to do this in the most direct way possible, without resorting to anything external or superadded.

The development of wisdom requires both study and practice, both learning and direct experience.

Metta (loving-kindness) becomes truly effective only when it arises from a peaceful mind, a pure mind, a balanced mind.

Compassion is a verb.

Every being has the potential of becoming a Buddha. Our true nature is Buddha nature.

Meditation is like catching a fish. If you try to catch it quickly, you'll miss it. If you have patience and know how to wait, the fish will come.

When one sees with wisdom that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence, one is liberated from suffering.

Meditation is not an escape from reality but a way to understand reality as it truly is.

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be.

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

When you practice zazen you should not try to attain anything. You should just sit in the complete calmness of your mind and not rely on anything.

Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.

The practice of mindfulness leads naturally to concentration. Concentration leads naturally to wisdom.

When mindfulness is weak, defilements are strong; when mindfulness is strong, defilements are weak.

Happiness is a skill that can be developed like playing an instrument or learning to read.

The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.

The development of wisdom does not occur in isolation but requires the cultivation of the entire Noble Eightfold Path.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

You are your own teacher. Looking for teachers can't solve your own doubts. Investigate yourself to find the truth - inside, not outside.

To see the truth, do not be for or against. The struggle between for and against is the mind's worst disease.

The way to change the world is to change your own mind.

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood: all these I do in Zen.

The Buddha's teachings are not a religion, but a science of mind.

Meditation is not about achieving anything. It's about letting go of everything.

The mind of the past is ungraspable; the mind of the future is ungraspable; the mind of the present is ungraspable.

The practice of vipassana is the study of the self. When you study physical and mental phenomena, you are studying the truth about yourself.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.